Front LEDs

Eeek - I nearly hit someone coming home tonight (I was driving for the
first time this week). Busy roundabout, cyclist with front LED and no
reflective gear, only saw him at the last moment and just managed to
pull up before the stop line - ABS is a wonderful thing. The trouble
is, I *was* looking for traffic coming round the roundabout, but this
(bluish) LED just wasn't visible at all from an oblique angle, and he
was wearing dark clothing.

I hope my front dynamo lamp is better, otherwise I'm seriously scared to
ride at night. I do also wear a reflective Sam Browne belt and
reflective leg bands and all my lighting is legal (except the front lamp
which is technically 0.6W too powerful!).

Be careful out there.

Zog The Undeniable wrote:
Eeek - I nearly hit someone coming home tonight (I was driving for
the first time this week). Busy roundabout, cyclist with front LED
and no reflective gear, only saw him at the last moment and just
managed to pull up before the stop line - ABS is a wonderful thing.
The trouble is, I *was* looking for traffic coming round the
roundabout, but this (bluish) LED just wasn't visible at all from
an oblique angle, and he was wearing dark clothing.

I hope my front dynamo lamp is better, otherwise I'm seriously
scared to ride at night. I do also wear a reflective Sam Browne
belt and reflective leg bands and all my lighting is legal (except
the front lamp which is technically 0.6W too powerful!).


Some of the LED front lights are bad in that respect. I personally
think the Cateye Opticube ones are much worse than the rest of their
range. They have put so much effort into getting the light onto a
patch on the road that almost all the peripheral light has gone. The
old EL100 OTOH does a grand job of letting people know you are there.

Tony

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:38:26 +0000, Zog The Undeniable
wrote:

Eeek - I nearly hit someone coming home tonight (I was driving for the
first time this week). Busy roundabout, cyclist with front LED and no
reflective gear, only saw him at the last moment and just managed to
pull up before the stop line - ABS is a wonderful thing. The trouble
is, I *was* looking for traffic coming round the roundabout, but this
(bluish) LED just wasn't visible at all from an oblique angle, and he
was wearing dark clothing.

I hope my front dynamo lamp is better, otherwise I'm seriously scared to
ride at night. I do also wear a reflective Sam Browne belt and
reflective leg bands and all my lighting is legal (except the front lamp
which is technically 0.6W too powerful!).

Be careful out there.

Yes, I've seen so many cyclists around here that just get 'lost in the
darkness' and for fear of being jumped upon by the zealots here for
not seeing them [sigh] I'd refrain from posting something like this,
but the truth remains: without adequate clothing and lighting it can
be very, very easy for motorists to not see you.....sometimes. It's so
easy to just suddenly 'disappear' behind a 'black backdrop'. I
remember walking down The Mall one summers evening with my girl friend
and watching this guy on a bike heading up towards Buck house being
clattered by this woman turning into The Mall coming out of a side
road [she even slowed down to a virtual sop before she pulled out].
Crash! Right into the side she rammed him, and a right bang it made
too The long and short of it was: he was ok, shaken but ok, the girl
driving was also shaken up, shocked and shaken at suddenly having this
guy land on the bonnet of her car! I remember the first thing that
struck me about him was his overall 'blackness' - black bike, black
clothes and a pathetic front light. It's very murky and shady down
there, loads of trees, very black in the shadows, she 'should' have
seen him, but she didn't. I could kind of understand why she didn't.


Those front LEDs are fine when seen directly from the front, but not
so good from the side. And the combination of dark clothes, dark
coloured bike and weak lights is lethal.

The other day I say this guy with one of those front LEDs flashing
away. It was ok, quite effective, not too dazzling/confusing to the
oncoming car/bike but just visible and useful. Big difference though -
straight head-on view.

But you are so right....be careful out there.


gb

"Garry Broad" wrote in message
...

Yes, I've seen so many cyclists around here that just get 'lost in the
darkness' and for fear of being jumped upon by the zealots here for
not seeing them [sigh] I'd refrain from posting something like this,
but the truth remains: without adequate clothing and lighting it can
be very, very easy for motorists to not see you.....sometimes. It's so
easy to just suddenly 'disappear' behind a 'black backdrop'. I
snip
Those front LEDs are fine when seen directly from the front, but not
so good from the side. And the combination of dark clothes, dark
coloured bike and weak lights is lethal.

The other day I say this guy with one of those front LEDs flashing
away. It was ok, quite effective, not too dazzling/confusing to the
oncoming car/bike but just visible and useful. Big difference though -
straight head-on view.

But you are so right....be careful out there.


What's all this talk about lights on bikes?
In Milton Keynes I'd be surprised if more than 10% of cyclists have any working
lights, front or rear, after dark.

--
M Stewart Cyclist & car driver
Milton Keynes, UK
www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:38:26 +0000, Zog The Undeniable
wrote:

Eeek - I nearly hit someone coming home tonight (I was driving for the
first time this week). Busy roundabout, cyclist with front LED and no
reflective gear, only saw him at the last moment and just managed to
pull up before the stop line - ABS is a wonderful thing. The trouble
is, I *was* looking for traffic coming round the roundabout, but this
(bluish) LED just wasn't visible at all from an oblique angle, and he
was wearing dark clothing.

I hope my front dynamo lamp is better, otherwise I'm seriously scared to
ride at night. I do also wear a reflective Sam Browne belt and
reflective leg bands

I've always thought these are good. They do need illumination from
headlights to work properly, but when they do I've always thought
they're very effective.

gb



and all my lighting is legal (except the front lamp
which is technically 0.6W too powerful!).

Be careful out there.

Tony Raven wrote:
Some of the LED front lights are bad in that respect. I personally
think the Cateye Opticube ones are much worse than the rest of their
range. They have put so much effort into getting the light onto a
patch on the road that almost all the peripheral light has gone. The
old EL100 OTOH does a grand job of letting people know you are there.

EL200 Opticube model looks bright at up to 45 degrees to the side and is
still visable at 90 degrees. Flashing mode helps.

In any case, I don't rely on drivers seeing me by my light only when I'm
side-on to them. I assume I'm invisable unless they can see
me/bike/clothing/light *before* that.

~PB

"Garry Broad" wrote in message
...
Those front LEDs are fine when seen directly from the front, but not
so good from the side. And the combination of dark clothes, dark
coloured bike and weak lights is lethal.

The other day I say this guy with one of those front LEDs flashing
away. It was ok, quite effective, not too dazzling/confusing to the
oncoming car/bike but just visible and useful. Big difference though -
straight head-on view.

But you are so right....be careful out there.

I had my first ride with my new Smart 6/8/10w switchable light and the
difference compared to my 2.5w is amazing. Previously I've kept away from
decent lights up front because of the cost but the smart only cost me 25
quid on Ebay and it's excellent, nimh bottle battery and good quality cables
and fittings.

"Pete Biggs" wrote in message
...
In any case, I don't rely on drivers seeing me by my light only when I'm
side-on to them. I assume I'm invisable unless they can see
me/bike/clothing/light *before* that.


What do people think about those light thingys that attached to the wheel
valve? I saw someone who had them the other day - at speed there appeared
to be a solid illuminated rim of orange-red light around the wheel, at
slower speeds you could see a rotating point of light. I was riding
parallel to him so didn't get a direct side-on view from any distance but
should imagine it would be pretty noticeable. I was even thinking of
getting some myself.

The other day I noticed a stealth pedestrian start running into the road
where the street lights were out - dressed in black with black all around -
just a kind of vague shadow in the corner of my eye, except for the fact
that he was wearing trainers with some kind of illumination in the heel.
Quite funny seeing little flashes of light moving almost as if by themselves
in stepping fashion just above the road - but also actually quite useful,
from a safety point of view.

Rich

you wonder how much the cyclist can see though, they dont illuminate the
way ahead much.

Davey

Malcolm Stewart wrote:
"Garry Broad" wrote in message
...


Yes, I've seen so many cyclists around here that just get 'lost in the
darkness' and for fear of being jumped upon by the zealots here for
not seeing them [sigh] I'd refrain from posting something like this,
but the truth remains: without adequate clothing and lighting it can
be very, very easy for motorists to not see you.....sometimes. It's so
easy to just suddenly 'disappear' behind a 'black backdrop'. I

snip

Those front LEDs are fine when seen directly from the front, but not
so good from the side. And the combination of dark clothes, dark
coloured bike and weak lights is lethal.

The other day I say this guy with one of those front LEDs flashing
away. It was ok, quite effective, not too dazzling/confusing to the
oncoming car/bike but just visible and useful. Big difference though -
straight head-on view.

But you are so right....be careful out there.



What's all this talk about lights on bikes?
In Milton Keynes I'd be surprised if more than 10% of cyclists have any working
lights, front or rear, after dark.

On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 18:38:26 +0000 someone who may be Zog The
Undeniable wrote this:-

Eeek - I nearly hit someone coming home tonight (I was driving for the
first time this week). Busy roundabout, cyclist with front LED and no
reflective gear,

Reflective gear reflects light. Thus your car would have needed
sideways facing "headlights" for you to see the reflections. I take
it your car has such (illegal) lights? The same is true of the
reflector that the bike may well have had on the front.

While I have no objection to reflective clothing people need to
understand how it works and not assume it can do things it can't.
Roundabouts are one reason why cycles need a good front light after
dark.

I hope my front dynamo lamp is better, otherwise I'm seriously scared to
ride at night.

That rather depends on the lamp. However most modern ones give a
broad spread of light while keeping a concentrated beam to
illuminate the road adequately where there are no street lights.


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.